The present invention pertains to trailers that may be attached to a balancing vehicle, and more particularly, to an attachment mechanism that permits tilting action of the balancing vehicle.
Vehicles for transportation of individual persons may provide stabilization in one or both of the fore-aft or left-right planes, such as when no more than two wheels are in ground contact at a time. Vehicles of this sort may be operated in a mode in which motion of the vehicle, including acceleration (both linear and turning), is controlled partially or entirely by leaning of the vehicle as caused by a subject riding the vehicle. Vehicles whose stability with respect to fore-aft overturning is substantially affected by the orientation of the user on the vehicle will be referred to as xe2x80x9cdynamically balancedxe2x80x9d vehicles for purposes of this description and any appended claims. One such vehicle is shown in FIG. 1, while various other such vehicles are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,091, and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/325,976, which patent and application are both incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art personal transporter, designated generally by numeral 18, that lacks static stability and that balances during the course of ordinary operation. A subject 10 stands on a support platform 12 and holds a grip 14 on a handle 16 attached to the platform 12, so that vehicle 18 may be operated in a manner analogous to a scooter. A control loop may be provided so that leaning of the subject results in the application of torque to wheel 20 about axle 22 thereby causing an acceleration of the vehicle. Vehicle 18 may have one or more yaw controls 28, such as a thumbwheel or thumb dial, for example, to enable subject 10 to steer the vehicle about a vertical axis z perpendicular to the plane defined by the direction of motion x and a transverse axis y.
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a trailer for a dynamically balanced transporter that has a support and an attachment housing coupled to the support. The trailer has a platform and an arm with two ends, one of which ends is coupled to the platform and the other of which is pivotally coupled, about a horizontal axis to the attachment housing. Finally, the trailer has a ground-contacting member coupled to the platform.
In accordance with alternate embodiments of the invention, the ground-contacting member may be a wheel or a ski or a skid. The trailer may further have a locking mechanism for locking the pivot in response to a stabilization fault condition.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a rider support trailer for a dynamically balanced transporter having a support and an attachment coupled to the support. The rider support trailer has a base having a bottom side and a top side and a pivot coupled to the base for permitting motion of the base about a horizontal axis with respect to the support of the transporter. The rider support trailer also has a ground-contacting member coupled to the bottom side of the base and a substantially vertical support column coupled to the top surface of the base, and a rider support that may be a seat coupled to the support column.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the platform of a trailer for supporting a user in a standing position may have a characteristic transverse linear dimension substantially comparable to the shoulder width of the user.